Lionel Messi magic seals it again for Argentina

Lionel Messi celebrates Argentina’s victory over Switzerland at the World Cup (Picture: AP)

For the fourth consecutive match, Argentina needed Lionel Messi’s magic to help them get the victory.

With all the attacking talent which Argentina has at their disposal, one would think they wouldn’t need Messi to bail them out of every match at this World Cup, but that hasn’t been the case. Their magical number 10 pulled yet another rabbit from a hat against Switzerland as he provided a great assist on Angel di Maria’s goal to break down the Swiss defence and give Argentina a 1-0 victory.

Argentina is into the quarter-finals for the third straight time and they will need to be much better to make it to their first semi-finals birth since 1990. While Ezequiel Lavezzi played better than if Sergio Aguero had been playing, Gonzalo Higuain was still invisible for his side and Di Maria, despite scoring the game winner, wasn’t much better.

Fernando Gago and Federico Fernandez were among Argentina’s worst players against Switzerland. Gago, not for the first time, looked slow, made some bad tackles and nothing seemed to be working for him, while Fernandez needed Marcos Rojo to bail him out of trouble on more than one occasion.

Of course for Argentina this World Cup, their plan A has always been pass it to Messi. If plan A doesn’t work, there’s always plan B which is pass it to Messi. And if all else fails, just keep passing it to Messi. Four matches into the World Cup, those plans don’t seem to be changing.

Gonzalo Higuain controls the ball against Switzerland. (Picture: AP)

But as bad as this Argentina team has been playing, there is some room for optimism. Higuain cannot possibly play any worse than he has been playing, Aguero could be good to go for their quarter-final match against Belgium and Di Maria’s goal may just as well be the confidence booster which he and Argentina desperately need.

Their quarter-final match against Belgium will be their toughest yet at this World Cup and they will need Higuain to be absolutely clinical in front of goal and Di Maria to be on top of his game to help their captain out.

If a few of these Argentina players don’t look too interested in winning the World Cup, Messi has other things in mind as he’s absolutely dragging this team in Brazil. He is doing what Diego Maradona did in 1986 and we all know what happened then.

Here’s one of many comparisons in the Maradona and Messi story. Maradona led Argentina to victory against Belgium in the semi-finals in 1986 and by the looks of things, Messi will have to do the same a few decades later albeit in the quarter-finals.

Should Messi’s side defeat Belgium and make it to the semi-finals, Argentina fans worldwide will be able to dream of a place in the final for the first time since 1990. And with Messi playing, anything is possible.